I decided to have a go at M3 a few weeks back, but haven't finished yet.
If I were to choose one word that matches this game, it's: Dammit.

You can clearly see that some departments of H13 really wanted to deliver a polished product, while clearly someone above them didn't feel that way and pushed the whole production into a halfass job.

Because first, let's talk about the story aspect. Damn, the cutscenes look absolutely fantastic, and for as little as I played it, the characters felt memorable. I also loved the acting, and despite my initial doubts about the protagonist, I think the actor nailed it, and I found his role quite convincing.
All in all, the story aspect of the game so far is exactly what I expected to come from a next generation installment from the Mafia franchise.

But then, the negative aspects...
Do I even need to bring it up? It feels like beating a dead horse. But to summarize, what. the. hell. were they THINKING? Seriously, if I could, I would go down to H13's office, walk up to whatever room the developers are in, and just shake my head furiously to express my utter disappointment in them. They were handed a great title, a great setting and a great universe on a damn gold platter, and they decided to trade that platter at a pawn shop for a quick buck instead of making a new GotY title.

The set dressing of the city is so well done and so extremely detailed, but it's all wasted on shallow Ubisoft bonfire/grinding/xray-vision Farcry-esque gameplay combined with absolutely horrible graphics. I mean, the clouds move at speeds of 3000 miles per hour for God sake, and the sun seems to be more of a supernova rather than a star. Because of these graphical issues, I felt the city was rather forgetable opposed to Empire Bay and Lost Heaven, even though it's environment is a lot more versatile opposed to those two cities.

A lot of people praise the game's soundtrack, which indeed is great. But let's just be honest with ourselves for one second. That soundtrack is great because the music from that era was great. Not because the developers wrote that music. So... yeah.

Aside from the Michael Bay driving and overall gameplay, I must say that the gunplay itself does feel solid. The guns sound very neat and crisp which I like, and the aiming works just like it did in M2, if not a little smoother.

So yeah, that's pretty much my view on the game after having it played for a few hours._________________

A lot of people praise the game's soundtrack, which indeed is great. But let's just be honest with ourselves for one second. That soundtrack is great because the music from that era was great. Not because the developers wrote that music. So... yeah.

Hey. Credit is due where credit is due. We all know what the alternative is - generic orchestral music. Some of the best games are there because of their use of actual music.

Absolutely, a proper soundtrack is essential. But I personally do not consider licensed music as something the developers themselves did other than picking out the tracks, and in M3's case, considering that music licenses aren't so difficult to obtain for AAA studios, it seems a little weird that the developers are praised for something that would be hard to do differently.
I'm just trying to say, the best part of the game, hasn't really been done by the developers other than making the choice of songs which a lot of people would probably do quite similar. If a different AAA game studio made an open world game in the 60's, chances are that the soundtrack would be pretty much identical.

I guess the overall game was such a disappointment to many people that any positives are now considered paramount features. Take GTA V for example, of which I absolutely love the soundtrack, reviews don't mention it as much as with M3. Why? I guess because there is so much to praise on the overall game and the modern era of music is appreciated differently opposed to the 60's.

Again, I'm not belittling the importance of a good soundtrack. I'm just saying that aside of the importance, it is something the developers pretty much couldn't mess up yet receive praise for as if they wrote the next piece of Mozart. I mean, if the developers somehow managed to mess up the soundtrack, H13 should have been made illegal. _________________

I like Music (i found a lot of great music like supremes - you keep me hangin' on, Otis Redding & Steve Cropper - (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay, Blue Cheer - Good Times Are So Hard To Find and etc.), cars, their physics (i love muscle cars, finally someone did a game with muscle cars and and how they did good work with them (Windshield wipers, Shock absorbers and other car parts)), The era of the 60's, facial animation

I dislike game's techical part (looks worse than competitors), police logic, and this endless one type missions (1st time i Passed the game for 23 hours, 17 hours i spent for these district capturing missions ), a lot of bugs in the beginning.

Maybe that's the game's biggest flaw. Not the bugs, not the bad graphics, but the fact that they've consciously decided to scrap pretty much all elements that would make it a Mafia game in the first place. It were the small details that made Mafia 1 and 2 so much fun to play, and even pick it up later on.

The police system being the biggest example, which is just a crime that they did not expand on that previous system. (no pun intended) Or even just small interactions with random objects made the previous games so much more interactive.
But like I said earlier, it seems that some developers initially planned to make M3 just as detailed before someone decided to butcher it. For example, ever noticed how the radio signal gets really bad when you are driving through a tunnel? that's an awesome detail that I'd have never expected them to put in. It's also nice how the radio signal is affected by car crashes. So clearly they had the time and intention to add little details to make the game more lively but stopped at some point. The calling witness is a good example of an unfinished detail. The idea is great, and I like it. However, as soon as someone spots you, it becomes a chicken hunt every-single-time. Some one sees you, you run him over, another one sees you, you run him over, then another one sees you, and the cycle repeats itself until you are sick of it and decide to run off because you are tired. That system could have been way more balanced and realistic if it only received a bit more attention.

I guess the gameplay of 1 and 2 was more rudimental, but that's exactly what you want for these types of games. I don't want any handholding or scripted animations for every single action you perform. Let a proper physics engine and AI take care of that. The random "chaos" you get from it outmatches fully scripted events by lightyears. That's why GTA V is so popular, you can play it the way you want to play it, not how the developers want you to play it.

One mission, no, every mission, I had to sneak in, kill a bunch and win the territory. I lost my patience when I found out I had just wiped the whole area clean not one mission before, only to do it again. So I went in guns blazing as I had the intention to get killed and quit the game. Instead, the whole building got massacred within only 2 minutes or something, and I won the territory. _________________

One mission, no, every mission, I had to sneak in, kill a bunch and win the territory.

Haven't played it, but this reminds me of the Godfather game. You get a few various business to pay you protection money in an area, then you go after the main headquarters and if you kill everything, the neighborhood is now your family's and...well...do it over and over again with slightly upgraded weapons or whatever. As a mission great, but as a whole game, well in the case of the Godfather they literally copied and pasted large areas and businesses, indistinguishable from each other. So the first mission was exciting, but by the end of the game you won't even notice the setting and know where to find doors and usual NPC hiding spots, procedural garbage.

That's really lazy. But yeah, it's pretty much the same thing in Mafia 3. The only difference is that so far, each environment was differently laid out and usually very well decorated. The amusement park was done really well also. Unfortunately, due to lazy game design, you pretty much have to wipe each area clean two times, so what would otherwise be a fine mission, now leaves you rather annoyed.

I like the idea of taking over a city, but the way H13 has done it, just feels more like a chore to sit through instead of a revenge plot because each mission structure is pretty much the same. It just makes me wish it was a linear game instead where more care could have been put on individual missions._________________

So anyways, I have just finished this game, and I was probably about 5 hours into the game when I first wanted to come here and express the amount of joy I had experieced during that time. But I thought, hell, according to all the guys out there, it's right about this point that the game should get miserably boring. So I though, alright, let's keep going and see whether I really get bored.

I must say, that I absolutely agree with pretty much everything you guys have said. The missions are utterly repetitive, and the only changes are.... There ain't any, it's mostly either kill somebody, or steal a truck. I agree with a lot of other things as well. It's nothing like the old games. And yet...

Every time I was playing, I was having a ball. I found the atmosphere and the city so attractive and lovely, especially the bayou part, for some reason. I'd just cruise down the road exploring the map looking for some hidden playboy magazine (hehe ).

The two things that bought me are probably the things that I love most in any game, and that is driving with a wheel (although it was possible only after a lot of fidgeting with x360ce emulator) and being able to put stealth to good use. Funny thing is, while playing, my logic said I should really dislike the game for all the repetition one is supposed to do to progress. And I felt that repetition myself, but somehow it didn't bother me one bit. It just felt like a sandbox experience to me. I agree, some areas were definitely copy-pasted, but I tried to think of it as a way to try different ways to approach the target without being discovered.

Speaking of driving, I have no idea what it's like with a keyboard, but with a wheel and the hood-cam on... Goddamn, it's so immersive. I even stopped at red lights for goodness's sake

All in all, I guess it's just a coincidence that this game was so right up my alley, and if I wasn't such a huge car and stealth fan, I would probably have dropped the game out of pure boredom. But luckily I was able to really appreciate the game, despite its more than obvious flaws.

So, fanboy or not, I guess that at the end the thing that matters is whether a game brings you enjoyment and happiness or not. And boy did this game manage that in my case

P.S. The main characters feel so real and alive. Donovan is probably one of the most memorable characters that I've ever seen.

Nah, A fanboy is someone who blindly praises a product or it's creator with complete disregard to any criticism towards it. You aren't one.

I think it's great to hear that you enjoy the game. No one's forced to either like or dislike something, and I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy one bit of it. In fact, I just might pick it up at some point again. The story itself does in fact make it worthwile.
The only thing that mostly bothers me is that damn weather with those time-lapse clouds. I hope there's a fix for that as it's quite immersion breaking for me, to see the city act like a nightclub on a saturday night._________________

I really liked Donovan to, that's the main reason I'm looking forward to the 'stones unturned' dlc. From what I gather the first was another letdown. Besides Vito, Sal was a very cool antagonist, very easy to hate like Giorgi.

The moment when everything gets taken away from Lincoln really leaves an impact.

Can we agree that this game wouldn't be that better off by being developed another 6 months or so, I'm oldschool, I never liked the new direction they took and the stale nature of the game really killled the enjoyment.

I just bought the game myself.
ooh?, does that mean you used a pirat.... Yes. Sue me.

So why did I buy it?

Well, I did some Googling, and guess what, the time lapse clouds have apparently been fixed in Patch 1.04 or something as well as some other graphical improvements. Also, the price of the game has been dropped to €15,- in the meantime, which I think is a reasonable price.

And, as expected, despite buying it months later, I still got the pre order DLC with it regardless haha. I'm not always right, but when I am, I love it.

By the way, I do agree that analogue controls for the vehicles make the driving a lot more immersive. I use an Xbox controller myself for these parts and always use it to park the vehicle properly in a spot or to drive around like a normal human being and not like Michael Schumacher.

As for Donovan, so far I do like this character the most as well. Please do not spoil anything about the storyline in case the discussion goes further about characters, I haven't played a lot of the game yet._________________